Join #oelmachat on Thursday, 8/11, at 7pm EST to chat with Ryan McLane and Eric Lowe, authors of Your School Rocks…So Tell People and Ohio prinicpals, as we discuss ways to use social media to reach our stakeholders and promote all of the positives going on in our schools and libraries!

In May 2013, OELMA unveiled Media Center Spotlight. What is Media Center Spotlight? It is a blog featured on the OELMA website that focuses on library media specialists and school library media centers around the state. Susan Yutzey, President of OELMA, visited Gayle Dill at Fairview Park High School, Jen Flaherty at Beachwood High School, Angela Maxwell at Hilltop Elementary School, and Yvonne Morbitzer at Rocky River High School. Rocky River High School’s renovated Media Center is the focus of May’s Media Center Spotlight. See photos in the Gallery, learn about Yvonne’s ideas to “break all Dewey rules” and her upcoming collaboration for the Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War Exhibit. Media Center Spotlight is intended to serve as a showcase for library/media centers in Ohio as well as a virtual professional development tool. From the comfort of your library/media center, you will be able to see what your colleagues around Ohio are doing and contact them to learn more about their resources, lesson plans, etc. Visit the Media Center Toolkit to learn learn more about it. Stay-tuned for the online Request a School Visit that will enable you to submit a request for a visit beginning this fall. Have a great summer!

Today I met with my principal to review the library’s proposed budget for next year. I prepared a sample budget, brought usage reports for the services we offer, and used Follett’s Titlewise Analysis to easily create graphs (much prettier than my SIRSI reports…). My boss is an experienced administrator, but new to our school, so the budgeting meeting was new to her. She was appreciate of the rationales I offered, and thanked me for taking the initiative to plan the meeting. I left with full confidence that at the district level, she would support the budget I proposed, because she understood it. I am lucky to be in only one building, with the time to build a relationship with one administrator, but I wonder about all of our varied expereinces. This meeting did wonders to advocate for the needs of the library and the students and staff that utilize it. Now, we have a meeting scheduled for mid May to review an annual report I will create. She suggested that I invite our curriculum director! I am curious about your experiences and the processes you use for budgeting/ reporting to your administrator.